Goodguys 8th Nashville Nationals

Where do I start? My guess would be with the location and how amazing it is. The Goodguys 8th Nashville Nationals is held right across from downtown Nashville, Tennessee, at LP Field. The skyline of downtown Nashville is bar none amazing, add to that the fact that the main focus is pre-'72 vehicles and you have the makings of an amazing adventure.

2/27What do you guys and gals think? Perfect parking spot? I would say Jeff Hayes from Bloomington, Indiana, found the ideal location. Plus his '51 Chevy had the ever-growing 5.3 LS 6L60E swap done to it.

As I made my way to LP Field, the clouds were drenching the area with thick, heavy pellets of rain, but being optimistic I stuck around to wait out the weather. Since I'm a Southern California native, when it rains people don't drive their hot rods, let alone half of us don't own umbrellas. Tennessee and visiting folks couldn't care less about water droplets, and despite the rain a large amount of vehicles showed up Friday. By the end of the day it was not looking that great for the rest of the weekend; the forecast showed a 60-percent chance of rain. I can tell you that hearing lightning and hotel room alarms in the middle of the night was not promising for Saturday's event.

Waking up to clear skies was a sign of relief and the storm was heading around the greater Nashville area. This was great news for the thousands of Goodguys attendees who brought their pride and joy. As you walk into the show all you see is green grass, trees, Nashville skyline, and tons of cool cars and trucks. The vendor row was filled with suspension-, transmission-, and engine-related products, plus everything you would need in between.

I made my way over to the swap meet area where I spotted a pair of Chevy Apache shortbed Fleetside bedsides at a fair price; hopefully someone took them home for a cool truck project. The autocross is probably one of my favorite events at the show because not only can you enjoy the live action, but Goodguys is also kind enough to let vehicles that pass tech inspection drive the track. Not sure about final count, but on Saturday I spotted eight classic trucks competing on the autocross and doing quite well.

3/27Photographer Robert McGaffin (left) and TV host Kevin Tetz from the TV show

A lot of the time it's an added bonus to have a city like Nashville so close to the event. This makes for a great after-show experience with all the great BBQ places, plus live bands at almost every restaurant. Good food, quality vehicles, and great people, I want to go back.

22/27Rick and Karen Basham have one clean-looking pickup.

Classic Trucks Finest Five 2013

23/27Here’s JC and Brian Young from McMinnville, Tennesse, and their perfect 1967 Ford F-100 longbed. This truck was lowered on Boyd Coddington 20s and has been in the family since 1968.

24/27 Dan O’Shea’s 1963 Ford unibody was spotted in a hotel parking lot on the way to the event, and we had to have it. A Mustang II frontend was used to lower it and a Lincoln 9-inch out back.

25/27 David A. Pritchard had one of the coolest 1953 F-100s I’ve seen in a while. Stance was just right and his truck sounded great with a 429 Ford big-block with Pypes exhaust.

26/27Dickie Steven’s 1956 Chevy stopped me in my tracks, not only by the way it looked, but I overheard him say it was “Pond Scum Green” in color. Turns out his hideous choice for the paint name was visually quite pleasing.

27/27Greg Rogers is seen here with his 383-powered 1968 Chevy C10 and drove to the event from Woodsburg, Tennessee. He lowered his truck using C10 drop spindles and springs, and this was his first build from the frame off. Nice job Greg!